Hello,

I'm looking for a real easy to use and program remote that looks cool. I am debating between the Harmony 670 or 550 and the phillips 8010. I have a HDTV, Cable Box with DVR, Onkyo Receiver, and a dvd player. I am really new to this stuff so I have a rookie question:

I want to be able to hit one button and have everything turn on with the settings I like. For example, if I hit "tv" I want the cable box, tv with a specific tv calibration, and receiver with correct settings to all turn on with on touch. The important thing is, can I set up the receiver and television to turn on with one sound and video setting when I turn on the tv and another sound and video setting when I turn on the dvd player? This would be nice so I can avoid phone calls about how to turn everything on. Do all these remotes have that feature?

If they all can do this I am leaning to the phillips because I like the tv channel icons displayed on the top and the "his/her" buttons. What are your thoughts about these different remotes?

Thank you!

I'll recommend you go to Circuit City and try out the 670 & 550 to see how they feel on your hands. I tried the 550 and didn't like the way the buttons are lay out and the way they feel when pressed. I personally have the 670 and love it. In terms of functionality both the 670 & 550 will do what you ask but again the buttons are lay out differently. On plus that the 670 has over the 550 is that it has 3 hard activity buttons which I like a lot but that may no be a big deal to you.

For a first Universal Remote, I would definitely go with the 550. You can find it (or the very similar Xbox 360, which is a great remote even if you don't have an Xbox) for about $85 on amazon.com.

Harmony remotes all have the same basic functions so it's really a matter of which style and/or button layout you prefer and/or batteries vs. a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. The more expensive 890 and 1000 have RF capability too, and the most expensive 1000 is a touchscreen. You download the software, type in the brand and model numbers of your devices, describe whether sound should come from the AVR or TV for each "activity" and within 30 minutes or less, you should have basic setup complete. It can seem complex or daunting at first glance, but it really is quite straightforward. Expect some tweaking to perfect things after a day or so.

You should be overwhelmed by the abilities of this remote to control everything properly, including inputs, outputs and settings for each type of listening or viewing activity. You will also have to put away your old remotes, and try to refrain from using the buttons and knobs on the devices controlled: Smart State Management stores what settings have been selected for each device at all times, so if you use your old remotes or manual controls it will be out of sync. There is a "help" button to fix this quite easily, but it's better to avoid the problem in the first place.

Thanks for your responses. It sounds like the Harmony will do exactly what I want after a little time at the computer learning the software which doesn't scare me. To make sure, the software will enable me to program all my devices into the remote and teach the remote how they are to be turned on, which order to turn them on, and their settings? I can really program one button to turn on my dvd player, surround sound to dolby, and tv to movie mode? That sounds like a small miracle and I am excited. I am going to bring my jar of coins to the coinstar machine today and print out an amazon gift certificate.

By the way, you mentioned that the 670 has 3 hard buttons. What are hard buttons?

... It sounds like the Harmony will do exactly what I want after a little time at the computer learning the software which doesn't scare me. ...
You don't "learn" the software per se: it's a wizard type operation, something similar to "add a new device" in MS Windows. The "wizard" guides you through the process requesting the necessary information.

By the way, you mentioned that the 670 has 3 hard buttons. What are hard buttons?
Hard buttons fulfill only one function. Soft buttons, such as those commonly found on cell phones, switch function according to what screen you are on. The 550 uses one hard "activities" button and four soft buttons on either side of the LCD screen. The 670 has hard buttons for three of the most common activities.

In the case of the 550 (or the Xbox 360 and the 720), when you pick it up, it will be showing the activities you created when you set it up. If you decide you want to "watch TV", you would press that button and everything would turn on. Now that the TV is on, the soft buttons would no longer show activities, but other functions you will have chosen to have available to compliment the hard buttons in the "watch TV" activity. These might be "aspect" or "zoom" or "DVR recordings" etc. etc. So, if you decide to watch a DVD, you will first have to press the "activities" button to display those, then press the DVD button so that your cable box gets turned off, your DVD player gets turned on, your TV stays on but changes inputs, your AVR is set to "movies" etc. etc.

If you have a hard button for "Watch DVD", then you would not be required to press "activities" first to access the list for that particular acitivity. The 670 has four hard buttons, three of which access the most obvious activities, and the other one which accesses the list of additional activities in the same way as the 550/360/720.

By the way, you mentioned that the 670 has 3 hard buttons. What are hard buttons?

Someone please correct me if am wrong but with the 550 you have to hit the "Activity" button first then you select the activity that you want on the LCD screen. The 670 has 3 activity buttons (Watch a Movie, Watch TV, Listen to Music) and another More Activity button that behaves just like the 550. Is not a big deal but it is one of the things that makes wives happy :D

UEI remotes will do the job as they make the cable remotes for the Motorola DCT 2000 Series, DCT 6200 - SD/HDTV Single Tuner, DCT 6412 SD/HDTV Dual Tuner 160GB SATA HDD, DCT 6416 SD/HDTV Dual Tuner SATA. The UEI remotes have a PVR Menu button this is what I use to bring up that DVR List found on the UEI Cable Universal Remote M780.

Harmony Universal Remotes - programed by PC online
UEI LCD screen or UEI with Female Voice Prompts not program by PC but upgradable.
UEI has Power All On or Power All Off features, even can turn off you devices and put them to sleep with a count down timer. Backlight remotes either green, red or orange. They're bigger than the Harmony about the size of the M780 UEI remote. They use learning and pre-program codes but you can get updates from their sites.

So Harmony USB 2.0 - get the list of models then add them to a list they get program while they download the new commands

UEI Remotes - pre-program manual LCD screen you can add Joe TV the Kids Room, auto search or using female voice prompts to guide you through. Still lots of remotes. I have the Harmony 659 it was expensive compare to the UEI with are cost effective.

Got to way weigh in those apples and pears.. You sound like you got the same type of system I have. I go one step more and use Network Media Streaming devices. Those remotes have to be learned they have a lot of macro buttons for TV, Videos, Pictures, Radio (internet shoutcast) and Music. Blue Yellow, Red and Green buttons for more things. Harrmony has thouse on certain models.

Then there is the JP1 site where you use 4-pin cable attached from your PC to your UEI-branded remote to dump code scripts to your remote. This why your UEI remote will beat any universal remote out there with new script codes that comes out. The problem now is that a lot of new remotes don't have this 4-pin adapter.

Battery life..
How long will the LCD screen last

Harmony Remote: 520 has been replaced by 550 has 4 extra macro buttons needed for Media MVP it's optional though. Amazon has the 520 cheap as Wal-Mart, Radio Shack and eveyone has it at the same set price. Can't they lower this or what. Looks like the market is controlled again on these remotes like with everything else.